Knuff & Co LLC Boosts Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Knuff & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 168,077 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 12.0% of Knuff & Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $39,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at about $31,527,000. RPS Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $18,500,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.7% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 731,528 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $154,074,000 after purchasing an additional 87,866 shares in the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% in the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 128,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,040,000 after purchasing an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Apple by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 67,259 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,166,000 after purchasing an additional 10,210 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $240.93 and its 200-day moving average is $230.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.